


Schoolyard Fights

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Near Miss AU [13]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24852304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: There are some things Les just doesn't want to go to David for.
Relationships: Racetrack Higgins & Les Jacobs, Spot Conlon & Les Jacobs
Series: Near Miss AU [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735408
Comments: 34
Kudos: 73





	Schoolyard Fights

**Author's Note:**

> Just some good ol' Les & Spot & Race bonding time. They're family too, you know!

“This just in, I hate my life.”

“You know this isn’t your house, right?” Tony asks conversationally from the kitchen.

“Yeah, I know,” says Les, who has sprawled across the couch. “But Jack and Davey are bein’ all sappy in the living room.”

Tony snorts. “Yeah, okay. That why you hate your life, or just bonus?”

“Bonus,” Les replies. “I got into a really stupid argument in class today that just took up the whole damn class, which means that now the project we were supposed to be working on _in class_ that our teacher _gave us time for_ we’ll now have to make time for out of class, which means I have to fucking see –“ He pauses, glancing around. “I’m sorry, is Frankie around?”

“Nah, go ham,” says Tony. “He’s playing with your niece.”

“Great,” says Les. “So I have to fucking see this goddamn fucking _dumbass_ again! Because we’re fucking partners!”

“You’re fucking partners?” Tony says.

“You are the worst brother I have.”

“If that were true, you’d be at David’s.”

“Ugh, right.” Les throws his head back against the couch cushions, groaning dramatically. “Hey, will you feed me tonight?”

“You don’t even know what I’m making for dinner,” says Tony, rolling his eyes. “It could be banana bread French toast.”

“You don’t keep bananas in the house,” Les replies flatly.

“We could have bought some especially for tonight,” Tony teases. “Specifically to have a Les-free dining experience.”

“But you didn’t.”

“But we didn’t,” agrees Tony. “We’re having tacos.”

“ _Hell_ yes,” Les says, punching the air. “Davey’s making lasagna and you _know_ I love him but there’s always something weird when he tries to bake pasta.”

Tony laughs. “Yeah, alright. That’s definitely true.” He points his spatula at Les. “So what was your fight about?”

“Oh, uh,” says Les, shrugging, “the usual. Disagreement over responsibilities on the project.”

“Yeah?” Tony replies. He’s watching Les with narrowed eyes, and his tone is probing but not pushy; Les knows that if he asks, Tony will drop it. “That all?”

Still, part of the appeal of living with the guys instead of his parents is that he can actually _tell_ them things. “My partner made a comment about a classmate I took issue with.”

“Of course you did,” says Tony, rolling his eyes. “I’m not gonna try to parent you, kiddo, but you gotta stop picking fights with people you’re s’posed to work with. This is, what, the third time this semester you’ve lost time to arguing with somebody?”

“It’s always just this _one_ dick,” Les says, crossing his arms. “He’s mean to everybody, and nobody else will stand up to him, so –“

“Oh my god,” Tony interrupts. “Please, Les, tell me you’re hearing how much you sound like Daves right now.”

Les groans. “Yeah, I _know_.”

“As long as you’re conscious of it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” says Les. “Hey, where’s your better half? I wanna pick his brain about classroom management.”

“He’s out with some of his friends from school,” says Tony. “You’re stuck pickin’ mine.”

“Ew, no,” Les replies, teasing. “I can’t use a time-out corner with middle schoolers.”

“I’ll have you know we call it the _reflection section_ ,” Tony says. “And I _do_ use it with middle schoolers. Twelve-year-olds are bitchy, Les.”

“And twelve-year-olds with delusions of ballet stardom are probably all the worse,” says Les.

“Every time I teach the big kids my heart hurts so much for you and Sean,” Tony says. “It’s not too late –“

“For what?” says Les, raising an eyebrow. “You want me to switch to early childhood like you?”

“No, be a dance major. Come teach at my studio, I’ll let you have the big kids.”

Les laughs. “It’s definitely too late for that.”

“Damn,” Tony replies, grinning.

\--

Les stomps into Sean and Tony’s living room, throws himself onto the chair, and starts angrily playing on his phone.

“Hey, little brother,” Sean says tentatively. “You good?”

Les huffs angrily, jabbing at his screen.

“Somethin’ bothering you?” Tony asks, exchanging a concerned look with his husband.

“I’m fucking _furious_ with my sisters,” Les says in a low voice. “But I don’t want to make David uncomfortable. So I came here. Just ignore me.”

“What happened with Kath and Sarah, Les?” Tony asks gently.

Les sets his phone down, his fingers digging into the arms of the chair instead. “He told me you know. About – about Leah’s mom?”

“Oh,” says Tony.

“I gotcha,” Sean replies. He sits on the couch on the end closest to Les’s chair. “Why Sarah?”

“She _married her_ ,” Les says. “She _knew_ what Katherine did to David and she still fucking _married her!”_

“David specifically didn’t tell them so that he wouldn’t get in the way of their relationship,” says Tony. “He didn’t _want_ Sarah to break up with Kath over this.”

“I know!” snaps Les. “Because he’s got no – no sense of self preservation, and he’s still so goddamn in love with Kath that he wouldn’t –“

“He’s not.”

“Jack –“

“I’m not saying he’s _not_ in love with Jack,” says Les. “Just that he’s still, like, stupidly hung up on Katherine and it makes him do stupid things like let our sister fucking marry her after she tore his heart out and smashed it into tiny pieces.”

Tony hums. “Alright, yeah. I see it.”

“But that I get, you know? He can’t control that, she’s his first love and the mother of his child and – “ Les sighs. “I just don’t understand how Sarah wouldn’t drop her as soon as she found out, though. I’m resisting the urge to text her and ask.”

“Please don’t text her,” Sean says.

“I’m _successfully_ resisting the urge.” Les picks his phone up again, then sets it down. “I just – it’s _David_. Isn’t he more important to Sarah than some girl?”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that,” says Sean, but his tone is sympathetic.

“Is it?” asks Les. “Sean, really. Is it? Sarah _knows_ what David was like after Kath dumped him, she knows better than anyone in the world because she’s the one who helped him pull himself back together. And she still –“

“Les,” Tony interrupts.

Les takes a breath. “I never want to fall in love if it’s gonna make me as stupid as it makes my siblings.”

“Oh, kiddo,” Tony says, patting Les’s shoulder. “ _That_ part’s unavoidable.”

\--

“Are there kids here?”

“No, why?”

“Fuck my life.”

“I see.”

“Sean, student teaching is _going_ to kill me,” Les says, leaning on the counter. “It’s going to kill me dead and none of my students will mourn me.”

“That’s what you get for teaching thirteen-year-olds, kid,” says Sean. “They’re the actual worst.”

“The worst!” Les agrees.

“What’s wrong?” Sean asks. “You having trouble managing the kids or –“

“Did you know every time I _assign_ homework, I also have to _grade_ homework?” Les complains. “I should’ve been a math teacher, at least that’s quick to check!”

Sean laughs. “What’ve you got?”

“Short answer tests,” says Les.

“Well, we can suffer together then, because I have essays on Macbeth from my juniors to work on,” Sean says. “Go grab your tests from Dave’s and we can camp out on the couch.”

“Can we drink after?”

“It’s a Thursday, we have school tomorrow.”

Les groans. “Yeah, fine.”

“Come over during movie night, we can celebrate the end of this godforsaken week,” Sean offers. “I had to break up two different couples making out today, Les. _Two_. One of them was just in the goddamn hallway! Right outside my classroom!”

“At least my kids don’t do _that_ yet,” Les says, laughing.

\--

“Hey, guys?” Les says tentatively, tapping on the doorframe as he comes into the Higgins-Conlon apartment. “I need some advice.”

“School stuff?” Tony asks.

“Um, girl stuff,” says Les, a little sheepish. “I know you guys are both, like, _gay_ gay, but my other option is asking David and Jack for advice and – well. They’ve both got shit romantic histories. You guys don’t do girls, but at least you’ve got the stable relationship thing covered.”

Sean snorts. “Yeah, okay, what’s eatin’ ya?”

“There’s this girl – Maebh – in my class, and we’re really close and we’ve been friends for a while,” Les says. “And I’ve got the _biggest_ crush on her, and I’m pretty sure she’s into me? But I’m just, I’m _terrified_ I’ve read this wrong and I’m being one of those guys who, like, can’t handle just being friends with a girl, you know?”

“Our baby boy’s all grown up and having crushes!” Tony says, grinning. He comes around the kitchen counter and throws his arm around Les’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, kiddo, Sean and I are _professionals_ at falling in love with a friend.”

“I didn’t say I was in love with her,” says Les, a little halfheartedly.

“Do you want our help or not, little bro?” Sean asks, his arms crossed.

“Yeah, okay,” Les says. “Tell me your secrets.”

“First of all,” says Tony, squeezing Les against his side, “have you considered having a massive breakdown and confiding in her about your deep fears and identity issues?”

“What?”

“ _Tony_.”

“Hey, it worked for me!”


End file.
